The Appearance of Yui Saito
by Canis Lupus 54
Summary: The Integrated Data Sentience Entity catches wind of Asakura's deviant behavior and decides to be a bit more proactive, sending a bodyguard for Kyon.
1. Chapter 1

"I'm tired of observing something that's unchanging, so I'll kill you and see how Suzumiya reacts," Asakura said matter-of-factly, before lunging across the room at me with a knife without any visible preparation. I dove out of the way, losing most of my tie to the knife in the process.

Wait, what? What is this situation? Why does she have to point a knife at me? Wait, what did she just say? Kill me? Naze? Why?

"Stop joking!" I exclaimed. "This is dangerous! Even if that wasn't real, I'd be scared!"

"You think this is a joke?" Asakura replied, frowning, but talking in the same sweet tone. "You don't want to die? To be killed? I don't really understand the concept of an organic's death."

"I don't get this and I can't laugh! Please just put that dangerous thing somewhere else!"

"That's impossible. Because I really want you to die."

She lunged again. I was about to move out of the way again, when someone shoved me aside. I heard Asakura's movement's stop and looked up to see a girl with long silver hair, wearing another school's uniform with a pink blazer and black skirt and socks. She had grabbed Asakura's arm, and Asakura was regarding her curiously.

"Who are you?" Asakura asked.

"I am Saito Yui," the girl replied almost inaudibly. "I was created one year ago to observe the activities of normal humans. I am replacing you as Nagato-san's backup effective immediately. My data control functions are far superior to yours, please surrender immediately."

Nagato? So is what she said true? Asakura mentioned Suzumiya, she sure is popular!

"If I refuse?" Asakura asked

"You will cease."

The knife dissolved into thin air and the silver haired girl, Saito, pushed back on Asakura's arm, sending the blue haired girl flying across the class room and into the opposite wall, shattering the windows and cracking the wall itself. Amazingly, Asakura stood up unharmed from that.

"I have arrested control of the information in this room. You can't defeat me in this space," she said in that same sweet tone she always used. Talk about sickeningly sweet.

It was at this time that it occurred to me "Wow, these two really aren't human!" The windows and doors to the room disappeared, leaving us in a dark, blank rectangle of a room with no exit. Asakura said something, impossibly fast, and a spear of light appeared in her hands. She threw it, but it shattered against some invisible barrier in front of Saito.

"This is the only way to get Suzumiya to move," Asakura insisted. "Otherwise no new data will be obtained."

"The sort of data you want to produce will be volatile, likely leading to the destruction of our universe," Saito countered.

A barrage of spears flew at Saito, but she moved her hand lightning fast, intercepting and dissolving each spear the moment they came near her hand. Asakura continued her attacks, clearly keeping Saito on the defensive. Her hands extended into spears and stretched forwards, but stopped dead near Saito. Then, everything returned to normal and Asakura started to dissolve. Nagato walked in through the door.

"Saito Yui had already conferred with me prior to your confrontation," she explained. "I was working on neutralizing you all throughout your fight."

"I see," Asakura said. "It looks like you get to live a little longer, Kyon. But be careful, the Integrated Data Sentience Entity has many changing facets. It may be only a matter of time before these two's puppet masters change their minds about you and Suzumiya."

I stared at her in shock. Why was all this happening? Why Suzumiya?

Saito turned to me and extended a hand towards me to help me up. No thank you, I'll stay here on the floor where it's safe. She smiled slightly. I took the hand and stood up.

Could someone explain to me what just happened, anybody at all?

"Asakura-san tried to kill you in order to create a data explosion to observe," Saito explained.

Simpler terms, please.

"If you die, Suzumiya-san will be upset and her powers will likely cause a large change in the world. Asakura-san wanted to facilitate that."

Suzumiya, Suzumiya. If everybody is so interested in her, maybe she should deal with these kinds of incidents personally. No, now that I think about it, that's an awful idea. In any case, I would like to go home where things make a semblance of sense now.

"We should fix this room first," Saito said, gesturing to the broken windows and cracked walls. She spoke like Asakura had and they were instantly repaired, it was as if this incident had never happened.

I observed Saito more closely now, she was slightly taller than Nagato, and her hair was longer, reaching down to her mid back. Her eyes were a bright, distinctive blue. Overall, I would have to say that she was rather pretty, though I'm not Taniguchi rating girls on a scale or anything.

Speaking of Taniguchi, he suddenly walked into the room, then stopped and stared in shock upon seeing the three of us.

"What are you three doing?" he exclaimed.

"Having a threesome, obviously," Saito replied. She was only slightly smiling, which combined with her even tone made it hard to tell if she was joking or not.

"What's a 'threesome'?" Nagato asked.

"I'm sorry, continue!" Taniguchi said, running frantically out of the room.

Thanks Saito, you may have irrevocably changed my reputation.

"No problem. We should get home."

"What do you mean, we?" I asked

"I'm walking you home," Saito said. "I'm pulling double duty as Nagato-san's backup and your bodyguard, in case any other radical factions act up."

I guess that's not so bad.

"I'll never leave your side again."

I still can't tell whether or not you're joking.

"In all seriousness, let's get going. Do you want to come too, Nagato-san?"

"I will come," said Nagato.

And so, the three of us walked back towards my home together. Two cute girls walking me home may have been something out of a fantasy, but considering what just happened, I was hardly in the mood to enjoy it.

Once we were there, Saito had me add her to my contacts and memorized my phone number to add to hers. She waved goodbye with a small but friendly smile and left with Nagato. I was confident that with Nagato around, I would never need a bodyguard, and thus would likely never see Saito again. Naturally, she saw fit to prove me wrong and showed up as a new transfer student at school the next day, in my class no less, right after the teacher finished explaining that Asakura had suddenly transferred away.

"It's nice to meet you all, I'm Saito Yui," she said with a bow. "I like video games and TV. Please treat me well."

She sat down in Asakura's seat. This whole series of events seemed to ignite a fire within Haruhi, whose eyes glittered with excitement once more.

"Two mysterious transfers at the same time? This definitely qualifies as an incident!" she exclaimed. "I'll investigate during lunch!"

I was fine with that, as long as she didn't drag me into it, I didn't want any extra work. In any case, I was nursing another matter. Asahina-san had slipped a note into my shoebox. Was this a fad or something now? She asked me to meet her in the clubroom at lunch. Naturally, I had to go. What I didn't anticipate, was that Saito would follow virtually my every move. You don't have to follow me, what's Asahina-san going to do?

Saito shrugged. "It's my job to protect you."

I arrived at the clubroom and knocked on the door.

"Yes?" said Asahina-san's voice from the inside. I opened the door to see an older woman who heavily resembled Asahina standing by the window. "Ah, Kyon-kun, it's been a while!"

"Um, are you Asahina-san's older sister?" I asked.

"I am me, the real Asahina Mikuru."

"She speaks the truth," Saito said. "I can take a DNA sample if you'd like."

Before I could contemplate how exactly she would go about doing that, the woman cut in.

"Huh? Who are you? I don't remember you from last time…"

"Saito Yui, Kyon-san's bodyguard."

"I see, the timeline has changed. In that case, what I came here to tell you may be outdated, but I will tell you anyway. Do you know Snow White?"

"Of course," I replied.

"From now on, whenever you're in a troubling situation, remember the story of Snow White."

"Seven dwarves, evil witch, poisoned apple, all of that?"

The woman nodded.

"I was just in a troubling situation yesterday."

"That's not the one. When it happens, Suzumiya-san will be with you. She may not think the situation is troubling."

"I see, thank you for telling me."

Asahina-san looked nostalgically at the maid outfit her past self now wore on Haruhi's orders. "I can't believe I used to wear this, it would be impossible now."

What other ridiculous outfits did Haruhi have you wear?

"I can't tell you, it would be too embarrassing. Besides, you'll find out for yourself soon enough."

She came in and hugged me.

"One more thing, don't be too friendly with me."

Then she started to leave.

"Asahina-san, could you just tell me one thing: exactly how old are you right now?"

Asahina-san turned around and gave me a smile and a wink. "Classified information."

Then she left. In other words, she's playing a high school student right now and will return to her own era in the not too distant future. I wonder how much time had passed for her. Based on her appearance, maybe three or five. Women change drastically once they graduate. I'm hungry, I had better head back. Good grief.

Nagato walked back in as I headed for the door.

Yo, Nagato. Did you happen to see someone who looked a lot like Miss Asahina on your way here?

"The future Asahina Mikuru, we spoke this morning."

"Can you time travel, Nagato?"

"I cannot, however, time travel is not that difficult."

I'd sure like some tips.

"It cannot be explained in words, and you could not comprehend it."

Is that so?

"It is."

Then I'm at a loss.

"Loss."

"Nagato, and you too, Saito, thanks for yesterday," I said.

"Unnecessary. Asakura Ryouko's deviant behavior was my responsibility and failure."

"Don't be so hard on yourself, senpai," Saito cut in. "No one got hurt. Except Asakura-san."

Afterwards, Haruhi lectured me for disappearing.

"Where did you go?" she demanded. "I thought you'd be back and waited without eating! Follow me!"

She led me outside.

"I overheard Okabe talking in the teacher's lounge, and nobody knew about Asakura until this morning. A man claiming to be her father called early saying he was suddenly moving, and where to? Canada, Canada! That's fishy, right?"

Sure, so what then?

"So I asked for a contact address, and they didn't have that either! Something's got to be behind this!"

No way!

"I kept grilling until I got her old address. I'll head there after school and investigate. I'm sure to find out."

She then literally dragged me through the halls. As usual, she never listens, well, I won't stop her. They're her vain efforts, not mine.

"You're coming too!"

"Why?"

"You call yourself a member of the SOS Brigade?" she demanded as she slapped a notice on the clubroom door.


	2. Chapter 2

As Haruhi dragged me out of school, Saito ran up to us. She was a good bodyguard, I'd give her that.

"Kyon-san, Suzumiya-san, where are you going?" she asked.

"To investigate Asakura's disappearance!" Haruhi declared enthusiastically. "Why?"

"Well, Kyon-san was going to show me around the area," Saito said, looking at the ground. "But what you're doing sounds important too."

"You can come with us! Someone as mysterious as you is definitely welcome in the SOS Brigade!"

"Thank you?"

And so, with that, two beautiful girls walked home shoulder to shoulder with me. Ah, that sentence sounds much nicer than I was actually feeling about the situation. I couldn't bring myself to get excited about it at all.

"Did you say something?" asked Haruhi.

"No, nothing at all," I replied.

"Oh, anyway, this way."

Shortly afterwards, we arrived at Nagato's condo building. I see, so they both live here, that makes sense.

"What's that?" Haruhi asked.

Nothing. Anyway, do you know the code?

"I don't, these are a test of endurance."

Just as she said that, a rather angry looking woman emerged from the building. We quickly stepped out of her way and she walked out, Haruhi bowing apologetically to her. After that, Haruhi stuck her foot in the door to keep it from closing, and pulled Saito and I in with her.

We went up to Asakura's apartment, Suzumiya repeating that the situation was suspicious all the way, but the door was locked, so instead we went back downstairs to question the landlord, who wasn't helpful in the slightest, only serving to make the situation even more suspicious. As we left, Nagato was just coming in with some food. So even she eats meals.

"Yuki, you live here too?" Haruhi asked. "What a coincidence."

It's not from any angle.

"We're here investigating Asakura. Did you hear she transferred?"

Nagato shook her head.

"Oh, well, let me know if you hear anything, understood?"

Nagato nodded.

"Oh, Yuki-chan, my beloved cousin!" Saito exclaimed, pulling the purple haired girl into a hug. "It's been a while."

"You two are cousins?" Haruhi interjected.

"Yeah, we were close when we were younger, but in recent years we haven't had much contact."

"I see. Well, let's get going, you two can have a visit if you want."

"No, I should get home too."

After that, we all left.

"Be careful," Nagato said as I passed her.

What am I supposed to be careful of now? We walked in a seemingly random direction for some time, before I spoke.

"Now where are we going?" I asked.

"I don't know," Haruhi replied.

"Can I go home now?"

Haruhi stopped just past a railroad crossing, prompting Saito and I to stop as well.

"Have you ever realized just how small your existence here on Earth is?" Haruhi asked without turning to look at us.

Now what are you talking about.

"I have. It's something I'll never forget. It was when I was in elementary school, as a sixth grader. The whole family went to watch a baseball game at the stadium. I wasn't particularly interested in baseball, but I was shocked when we got there. There were people everywhere I looked. The ones on the opposite side of the stadium looked like squirming grains of rice standing together. I wondered if every last person in Japan had gathered in the stadium. And so, I asked my father how many people there were in the stadium. He answered that a sold out game meant fifty thousand people.

"After the game, the path to the station was flooded with people. The sight stunned me. So many people around me, yet they only made up a tiny fraction of the population of Japan. When I got home, I did the math. We learned in social studies class that the population of Japan was 100 million plus some. Divide fifty thousand by that and you only get one two-thousandth.

"I was stunned again. Not only was I just one little person in that sea of people at the stadium, but that sea of people, was only a drop in the ocean. I had thought myself to be a special person up until that point. I enjoyed being with my family and most of all I thought the people in my class were the most interesting people in the world. But, that was the moment I realized it wasn't like that. The things that happened in what I considered to be the most enjoyable class in the world, could be found happening in any classroom throughout Japan. Every person in Japan would consider them to be ordinary occurrences. Once I realized that, I suddenly found that, all of my surroundings began to lose their color.

"Brush my teeth and go to sleep at night, wake up and eat breakfast. These were things everybody did. When I realized that everybody did those things on a daily basis, everything started to seem to boring. And if there were so many people in the world, there had to be one of them that was living an out-of-the-ordinary life. I was sure of it. So why wasn't that person me?

"That's all I could think about all through elementary school. And in that process, I realized something. Nothing fun will happen if you sit around waiting. So I figured I would change myself in middle school. Let the world know that I wasn't a girl content with sitting around and waiting. And I conducted myself accordingly, but nothing changed. Before I knew it, I was in high school. I thought something would have changed."

A train rushed by, giving me time to think of an opposition or get around it with some philosophical reference, but instead all I said was, "I see."

"Suzumiya-san," Saito said with an unusually strong voice. "Human beings are very special. Every person is different and every person counts. Don't let cynicism and numbers cloud your judgement, you were closer to the truth before that day."

Haruhi turned to look at Saito with wide eyes and renewed interest for a moment, then she scowled.

"I'm going home," Haruhi said, walking back the way we came. I could get home sooner going that way too. But something about Haruhi's back said not to follow her, and so I was at a standstill until I couldn't see her anymore.

"Saito, what exactly are your duties as my bodyguard?" I asked as we walked towards my house together.

"To guard you at all times, and otherwise provide any service you might find useful that doesn't interfere with the first duty," Saito replied in her quiet voice.

"Any service?"

"Yes, please be gentle."

Get your head out of the gutter! I still can't tell when you're joking and serious!

As we neared my house, Koizumi's voice sounded from behind me.

"Good evening. I'd like to fulfill that promise I made you."

Koizumi gave me a ride to a random intersection, spewing philosophical nonsense all the way. Saito, naturally insisted on coming with us. As we crossed, Koizumi had us close our eyes and took our hands, leading us forward. When I opened my eyes, I was in a grey reflection of the normal world, devoid of life.

"So this is the spatial phenomenon Suzumiya-san creates," Saito breathed.

"Yes, we call it enclosed space. It's created when Suzumiya-san is mentally unstable," Koizumi replied. "The show is about to begin."

I gasped and stepped back in fear as a blue giant appeared and started destroying the city.

"Suzumiya-san also creates these giants to work out her frustrations. They destroy here so she doesn't have to destroy in the real world. My comrades fight them. I must join them."

A red aura appeared around Koizumi, and he flew off towards the giant, joining other red lights. They cut off the giant's limbs and head, causing it to dissolve into nothing. Koizumi then returned and the sky began to crack. The space we were in collapsed, leaving us standing back in the intersection. Koizumi gave us a ride back to my place, explaining that the enclosed space would eventually overtake the world if left alone. He warned me like Nagato, but I didn't think anything of it.


	3. Chapter 3

There's something I don't get about this whole situation: why me? An alien, time traveler, and esper all wandered around Haruhi because, according to Koizumi, Haruhi wished for it. But if so, what am I doing in this crazy mess?

I am, after all, an ordinary high school boy. Whatever, it's not my problem. The responsibility lays with Haruhi, not with me. Nagato, Asahina-san, Koizumi, they should all be talking to Haruhi directly. Whatever happens then is her problem, not mine.

As I left for school that morning, I found Saito waiting for me just past my house.

"Just tightening up security," she said, joining me on my way to school. Well, if a cute girl wanted to accompany me everywhere I went, who was I to dispute her?

That day, Haruhi insisted on staying in her gym uniform until after school.

As I looked at my stockpile of Asahina-san photos, Asahina-san noticed the folder with her name on it.

"What is this?" she asked sweetly. "Why is my name on it? Let me see!"

She grabbed for the mouse, pressing her breasts into my back in the process. Saito, who had followed me to the clubroom, looked on in obvious amusement. When the door started to open, however, she suddenly pulled Asahina-san away from me and spoke some kind of incantation, causing the browser to open to a page of… something.

"What are you three doing?" Haruhi asked, scowling.

"Kyon-san was looking at an H doujinshi, and Asahina-senpai and I couldn't help but get into it as well," Saito offered as a defense. "I'd like to join this club, by the way."

"That's fine, but show me the computer screen."

I turned the monitor to Haruhi.

"Wow, you really were. Is that…?"

"Yup, hypnosis, Kyon-san is into some weird stuff," Saito replied

"Don't use the SOS Brigades official PC for your weird stuff, Kyon!" Haruhi exclaimed, though she was looking thoughtfully at the monitor. I could only gape at Saito's bizarre choice of defense. "Anyway, I'm changing, get out!"

She literally kicked me out of the room. When I was allowed back in, Haruhi was dressed in her bunny girl outfit.

"The arms and shoulders are cool, but this outfit isn't very breathable!" she said.

Koizumi chose that moment to walk in. "Oh, are we having a costume party today?"

Don't start.

Haruhi stood and asked Asahina-san to sit at the computer, then started braiding the terrified upperclassmen's hair.

I spent the rest of the day playing board games with Koizumi. Although the day was fairly ordinary, I thought that life itself had gotten rather interesting, and wished for these days to continue forever. Unfortunately, Saito had created a monster, as we would all find out the next day.

"Sleep!" Haruhi exclaimed, pointing at Taniguchi, who instantly fell asleep. Saito and I looked on in horror. "I've mastered hypnosis, Kyon!"

I can see that and I'm horrified!

"What's that look for? This is a great occasion!"

Of course you would see it that way, but it's actually pretty scary.

"Is there anything you two would like to tell me, or should I use hypnosis to get it out of you?"

"Don't be ridiculous, Suzumiya-san," Saito replied.

That's asking the impossible here.

"We're not hiding anything from you."

"Okay," Haruhi said with a sinister smirk. "Wake up."

Taniguchi awoke instantly and looked around confused. "What just happened?"

The end of the world may have started.

Haruhi prepared to point at Saito, but before being hypnotized, Saito made a shocking admission.

"Okay, I like Kyon-san," she said, blushing and looking at the floor. "That's why I follow him everywhere. We're not officially going out though. Happy?"

Haruhi blinked in surprise, then grinned. "I know you have a better secret than that, but I won't pry."

That's unusual of you.

After school, Saito and I walked to the clubroom as usual. Haruhi showed up shortly after us.

"Yui, it's time to tell us all your real secret," said Haruhi. "I did some digging on you, and you're a sucker for gossip, never contributing but always listening."

That makes sense, given her last job was to observe ordinary humans.

"So, you must have heard some rumors about supernatural activity! Where can we find some?"

"Well, there is one place…" said Saito.


End file.
